Lost contact with Phantom 2 tx. Now its in the bay

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TodayTrader

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Everything was fine. This WAS NOT pilot error. I was flying with FPV shooting some trick fly water boarding just off the bay shore. All of a sudden I lost my hover from about 20 feet above the water and down she went. Just fell out of the sky. Had only been flying for about 7 minutes on a full battery. Using the stock transmitter is all I can think of here. It has never done this before. The ONE TIME I fly over water this happens!

I was flying in GPS mode and was all green. Both switches were facing up. I did noting wrong! I know better than to challenge DJI on this as I will get nowhere. Why don't they just sell these things with stronger transmitters? I was well within the range and watched the whole thing as the craft was non responsive to my full left stick UP command. It just dropped out of the sky from about 100 meters away. $1600 bucks swimming with the fishes now

Any thoughts out there.

Depressed.
 
Sorry for your loss but I would press DJI on this as its a known issue. Can you retrieve the micro sd card or is she unsalvageable? Video would help with your case with DJI. Google search back here for similar experiences. @ianwood has also started a thread to document failures like this so I would post in there also.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 8
 
I also lost mine in a bay on Monday so I feel your pain. At 150 yards it just stopped responding and nothing I tried could bring it around. I switched off the transmitter to send it in recovery mode and it just continued it's slow descent into the drink. Luckily for me however I was in the tropics with snorkel gear nearby and I recovered the bird after about 15 minutes.
I immediately noticed one of the motors was already rusted which I believe indicates it was pretty dang hot when it hit the water. The white plastic below the motor had also yellowed; another indication. The plastic below the motor on the arm opposite was also yellowed which I'll take a guess was cause by heat generated as that motor tried to provide added lift of the motor that was failing.
So it wasn't pilot error but a simple equipment failure. Bad bearing? Sand or grit? I just don't know. Time to start building my own, I can't afford these any more.
 
IrishSights said:
Sorry for your loss but I would press DJI on this as its a known issue. Can you retrieve the micro sd card or is she unsalvageable? Video would help with your case with DJI. Google search back here for similar experiences. @ianwood has also started a thread to document failures like this so I would post in there also.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 8
Click to expand...

Not recovered yet. I am going back out tomorrow at low tide with some friends to see if we can locate it and retrieve the SD card. Hope it survives and hope I can find it
 
What bird we talking about P2/GoPro or P2V ?
 
TodayTrader said:
Everything was fine. This WAS NOT pilot error. I was flying with FPV shooting some trick fly water boarding just off the bay shore. All of a sudden I lost my hover from about 20 feet above the water and down she went. Just fell out of the sky. Had only been flying for about 7 minutes on a full battery. Using the stock transmitter is all I can think of here. It has never done this before. The ONE TIME I fly over water this happens!

I was flying in GPS mode and was all green. Both switches were facing up. I did noting wrong! I know better than to challenge DJI on this as I will get nowhere. Why don't they just sell these things with stronger transmitters? I was well within the range and watched the whole thing as the craft was non responsive to my full left stick UP command. It just dropped out of the sky from about 100 meters away. $1600 bucks swimming with the fishes now

Any thoughts out there.

Depressed.
Click to expand...

I have a FC40 and it will drop sometimes for no reason. I am scared to take it out over water again until I nail down the cause. I saw a video that someone posted on YouTube and they cut strips of styrofoam and hot glued them together and attached to the landing gear and they would land the drone in water. I may try that.
 
TodayTrader said:
750r said:
What bird we talking about P2/GoPro or P2V ?
Click to expand...

P2 GoPro zenmuse 3d gimbal with 5.8 FPV.
Click to expand...
That sucks !
Had me wondering 2.4 is strong
When she went down did you lose FPV ? Their have been reported battery issues where it reboots in flight but if you had solid FPV that would eliminate the battery .
 
750r said:
TodayTrader said:
750r said:
What bird we talking about P2/GoPro or P2V ?
Click to expand...

P2 GoPro zenmuse 3d gimbal with 5.8 FPV.
Click to expand...
That sucks !
Had me wondering 2.4 is strong
When she went down did you lose FPV ? Their have been reported battery issues where it reboots in flight but if you had solid FPV that would eliminate the battery .
Click to expand...

FPV signal was fine. By my estimations I still had 7-8 minutes left to go on the P2 battery
 
TodayTrader and Tombro, first so sorry what happened to both of you. Do you mind sharing which flight control firmware you are running (1.08, 2.0, 3.0, 3.02, or 3.04), are you in NAZA or phantom mode, number of SATs, and any other pertinent info. I experienced an uncommanded descent on 3.0 firmware, in NAZA mode, at about 400 ft out, both switches up, but recovered at the last moment by switching s1 to atti. I have since gone back to 1.08 and she has been flawless. I have a P2V+ BTW.
 
BlackTracer said:
TodayTrader and Tombro, first so sorry what happened to both of you. Do you mind sharing which flight control firmware you are running (1.08, 2.0, 3.0, 3.02, or 3.04), are you in NAZA or phantom mode, number of SATs, and any other pertinent info. I experienced an uncommanded descent on 3.0 firmware, in NAZA mode, at about 400 ft out, both switches up, but recovered at the last moment by switching s1 to atti. I have since gone back to 1.08 and she has been flawless. I have a P2V+ BTW.
Click to expand...

3.0 I believe. I took delivery of the P2 in April and have flown dozens of times. This was the first loss of contact problem which just happened to be 20 feet above the water so I had no time to react. Both switchers were in forward position flying steady camera shots in GPS mode.
 
I've had this happen to me twice and luckily I was over dry land and not that far from my location. My P2V sensed that I suddenly had 2% battery left and immediately began to descend. I was able to keep it from landing by pushing the left stick fully forward.

When I restarted the P2V it told me I had 42% battery left. This sort of thing is totally unacceptable, in an expensive aircraft that is capable of doing damage to people and property if running out of control.

Yesterday I had my first "Invalid Battery" warning. I've cleaned the battery pads and pins, very carefully, with Deoxit D5 and the battery is only in the aircraft when it's time to fly. I was told I could send the P2V off to DJI LA and have the new crowned battery pins installed for free... with a four to six week wait. Or I could purchase the part myself, take the bird apart, pull off the old one and solder on the new one myself. I don't like either option all that much... :evil:

-slinger
 
TodayTrader said:
Everything was fine. This WAS NOT pilot error. I was flying with FPV shooting some trick fly water boarding just off the bay shore. All of a sudden I lost my hover from about 20 feet above the water and down she went. Just fell out of the sky. Had only been flying for about 7 minutes on a full battery. Using the stock transmitter is all I can think of here. It has never done this before. The ONE TIME I fly over water this happens!

I was flying in GPS mode and was all green. Both switches were facing up. I did noting wrong! I know better than to challenge DJI on this as I will get nowhere. Why don't they just sell these things with stronger transmitters? I was well within the range and watched the whole thing as the craft was non responsive to my full left stick UP command. It just dropped out of the sky from about 100 meters away. $1600 bucks swimming with the fishes now

Any thoughts out there.

Depressed.
Click to expand...

You say it was hovering before it went swimming? Could have been due to VRS (Vortex Ring State). The props create unstable turbulent air when hovering in one spot or descending straight down, resulting in a loss of lift. Hitting the throttle exacerbates the problem and it will fall faster. Real helicopters never hover in one spot for this reason, they are always moving a little to stay out of the prop wash...
 

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